BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) – Dueling parliaments vied for power in Kyrgyzstan, already jittery from two nights of looting after the president was ousted, and perhaps no one was more harried than Alisher Sabirov – a member of both.

Sabirov spent much of Saturday shuttling through the corridors of the parliament building, a walking symbol of the rampant confusion in this Central Asian country since demonstrators stormed presidential headquarters last week.

President Askar Akayev fled and the Kremlin tersely announced on Saturday that he had taken refuge in Russia. That news was one of a very few certainties about impoverished but stunningly beautiful Kyrgyzstan.

In confirming that Akayev was in Russia, the Kremlin press service declined to give details on Akayev’s location or say when he arrived. Russia has a military base near Bishkek, and there was speculation Akayev initially found safety there; later reports said he had gone to neighboring Kazakhstan.

One of the parliaments on Saturday set presidential elections for June 26, a step toward restoring a sense of order in the country. The other couldn’t muster a quorum.

The latter is the parliament that was chosen this year in allegedly fraudulent elections that set off the wave of protest against Akayev. It was convened just two days before his ouster. But within hours of the government collapse Thursday, the Supreme Court annulled the registration of its members, restoring legitimacy to the lawmakers who had been voted out of office.

All Sabirov wanted, he said, was order as he dashed from one wing of the parliament building to the other, rushing past a torn portrait of Akayev.

“All disputed races should be solved through the courts,” he called out.

Police, meanwhile, said they had halted rampaging looters after two nights of violent upheaval in the capital.

But in a sign of continuing tension, acting leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev changed the location of his first news conference at the last minute, saying he had been threatened with assassination.

Bakiyev, apparently aiming to placate pro-Akayev forces, said a law granting immunity to the ousted president remained in force. He pledged not to seek vengeance and even found words of praise for the man he had once served as prime minister and later came to vehemently oppose.

“I have no intention of persecuting Askar Akayev. He has done much for democracy and building a sovereign Kyrgyzstan,” Bakiyev told reporters. “It’s his right to come back or not.”

Bakiyev quickly declared himself a likely candidate for the presidency after the date for polls was announced.

“I think I should run in the presidential elections. God willing, I will,” he said.

A semblance of calm returned to the capital during daylight hours Saturday and early Sunday after the nights of looting and sporadic gunfire. Interior Ministry spokesman Nurdin Jangarayev said one person died and 129 were arrested in overnight confrontations, but a deputy interior minister said on television that three people had been killed.

Nonetheless, Jangarayev said, “Everything was normal last night – better than the previous night. We have calmed the people down.”

Iskander Sharshiyev, an opposition leader whose group has been working with police to restore order, said three people he described as “pillagers” were killed.

Some 2,000 volunteers have joined police in trying to keep order in the capital, where many stores were looted and some burned in the first night’s mayhem after Thursday’s government collapse.

Despite the Supreme Court ruling annulling their registration, members of the pro-Akayev parliament were refusing to go quietly, even though they could not find a quorum Saturday.

“Our opinion is that we should be the legitimate lawmakers because the people have chosen us,” said Roman Shin, He said the reinstated lawmakers “don’t want to abandon power.”

“The revolution was made by (only) 5,000 people,” he said, referring to the crowd that gathered outside the presidential and government compound before the building was stormed. He said that he and his allies could gather at least five times as many.

Meanwhile, there was no sign that Akayev had resigned, and a purported Akayev statement e-mailed to media Friday quoted him as denying reports he had stepped down.

That raised the prospect that Akayev could try to organize a counterinsurgency from afar aimed at restoring him to power. On Saturday, news reports said hundreds or even thousands of Akayev supporters were believed to be heading for the capital, but by nightfall they had not shown up.

Akayev’s departure made Kyrgyzstan the third former Soviet republic in the past 18 months – after Georgia and Ukraine – to see long-entrenched governments fall under massive protests over accusations of widespread corruption.

The 60-year-old Akayev had led Kyrgyzstan since 1990, before it gained independence in the Soviet collapse. He was long considered the most democratic leader among the five ex-Soviet Central Asian nations, but he was accused of employing increasingly tough measures against dissent in recent years.

Bakiyev said Russian President Vladimir Putin called him Friday night and asked how Russia could help the people of Kyrgyzstan. “I’m very grateful to him for that,” he said.

He also said U.S. Ambassador Stephen Young was “one of the first people who came to congratulate me.”

The U.S. Embassy said Young met with Bakiyev on Friday, but did not reveal the nature of their conversation. Both the United States and Russia have military bases in Kyrgyzstan, not far from Bishkek.

AP-ES-03-26-05 1645EST

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